Liverpool Police Recruitment Film From 1958 May Offer a Glimpse of Future Beatles

A film commissioned in 1958 as a recruitment aid for the Liverpool police department includes what appears to be a few seconds of footage showing Paul McCartney and his brother Michael hanging out with John Lennon.

The Liverpool Echo reports that a local historian named Peter Hodgson made the connection after confirming that the clip, originally erroneously dated to 1950, was actually created later — and realized that the footage, which captures the police department's annual show, was filmed essentially next door to the McCartneys' home.

Although, as the report admits, the trio is only glimpsed for a few fleeting moments — and they're too blurry to definitively identify — Michael McCartney thinks Hodgson might be on to something.

"Wow! That could definitely be us," he told the paper. "It was a really big occasion in Liverpool and that’s what we used to do every summer — take deckchairs and climb onto the concrete shed and watch a free show. And I think there is every chance John would have been there that year — absolutely. His friend, Pete Shotton, was a police cadet. And George [Harrison] could easily have been there, too. It’s bloody mad — absolutely fascinating and unbelievable!"

The Echo notes that the summer of 1958 found McCartney, Lennon and Harrison sharing a studio as members of the Quarrymen for the first time, all of which adds up to the intriguing possibility that the clip in question offers some of the earliest known footage of one of rock's preeminent creative teams. "I nearly fell off my chair when I saw it," Hodgson added. "We may not be able to make out the figures on that shed, but I am certain that Paul and Mike were up there – most likely with John and George."